Stanford' s Community Writing Project

The Community Writing Project (CWP) within the Program in Writing and Rhetoric began in 1988, and is one of the oldest national service-learning programs in writing and rhetoric. Collective Roots is pleased to announce that we have become a CWP partner organization. CWP students research and produce written, spoken, visual and / or multimedia projects that directly benefit area nonprofit or governmental agencies with which they work. These projects give students opportunities to work outside an academic setting in rhetorical situations of practical consequence. Ultimately their work will reach audiences beyond their teachers and serve tangible purposes for community audiences and for the students themselves. (Read more about the CWP Project)

Collective Roots is working with writers in the Stanford Community Writing Project during Spring & Summer of 2008. To read articles by the students, click here. For more information, please contact Dr. Cheryl Greene or Wolfram Alderson.

Sample writing projects might include:

• creating PR materials for events (we have several coming up)
• working with the media (we need press packets, storyline development, and both local media would like to see us produce a series of articles focusing on food system change (engaging youth in developing these stories)
• updating or revising material for websites (there are literally dozens of projects on our website that need help: ROOTPEDIA, BOTANICOPEDIA, Our k-8 Curriculum, Program and policy initiatives, literature reviews on topics of key interest, etc.)
• field research (we have a list of topics ready to go)
• policy reports (food system change and environmental issues)

Additionally, we need:

• an e-newsletter (monthly)
• a print newsletter (quarterly)
• a brochure (annually)
• fact sheets on specific programs (garden based learning, food system change, environmental action, youth development)
• social documentation / photo-interviews of students, teachers, community gardeners, community partners, environmental activists, etc.

The back end of our website is easy for students to access, navigate, and contribute content in a user-friendly / Word style editor format. This makes it easy for students to work on projects remotely, share articles on project pages for access by teams only, or publish work online instantly.

Are you a writer interested in helping us with any of these projects?

Contact Wolfram Alderson by clicking here.